German Pronouns

A pronoun (Pronomen) is a short word that takes the place of a noun previously mentioned in the sentence , paragraph , or conversation . A pronoun substitutes for a noun or noun phrase and designates persons or things asked for , previously specified , or understood from context . A specific pronoun in English as well as German has person , number , and case . You will be encountering all of the common German pronouns in the next several lessons , so we will track these as they appear . The following familiar personal pronouns are introduced in this lesson . Look at the list below :

• ich – I  (1st person , singular , nominative case)
• mich – me (1st person , singular , accusative case)
• mir – me (1st person singular , dative case)

• du – you (2nd person, singular, nominative case)
• dir – you (2nd person singular, dative case)

• er – he (3rd person singular , nominative case)
• sie – she (3rd person singular , nominative case)
• es – it (3rd person singular, nominative case)

Pronoun person describes the relationship of the word to the speaker (that is , 1st person is the speaker ; 2nd person is spoken to ; and 3rd person is spoken about) . Pronoun number refers to whether the word represents one (singular) or more than one (plural) person or object . Finally , case indicates how the pronoun is used in a sentence , as will be explained over the next several lessons . For now , note in the examples you have already encountered , the three cases of 1st person singular pronouns in German : ich , mich , and mir . In English these are: ‘I’ , ‘me’ , and (to or with) ‘me’ — in essence , there are really just two cases in English : subjective (‘I’) and objective (‘me’) . You will shortly see that there are similarities , yet distinct differences , in the cases as used by the English and German languages .

Look at the following vocabulary :

OTHER “SMALL” WORDS